New ONS and Zoopla data reveals how much space the average yearly wage can buy you in each UK city.
In London, the UK’s average annual wage of £30,446 would buy you 41 square feet of property, which is equivalent to under half the size of a parking space (124 sq. ft.) – making London the city where you can get the least space for your money.
After London, Cambridge and Brighton were the cities where the UK’s average yearly wage would purchase the least amount of space. In Cambridge, the average salary would buy you 66 square feet of space – just over half the size of a parking space. In Brighton, the UK’s national annual wage would buy you 65 square feet – a little over the size of a small bathroom.
The research, by Eachnight.com, used new ONS and Zoopla data to find the average price of a square foot of property in 30 of the UK’s most populated cities and used this data to discover how much space the UK’s annual wage of £30,446 could buy you in each city.
| City | Rank | Square foot purchased on avg. annual wage (£30,446) | Cost per square foot of property |
| London | 1 | 41 | £744 |
| Cambridge | 2 | 65 | £465 |
| Brighton | 3 | 66 | £464 |
| Oxford | 4 | 75 | £404 |
| Bristol | 5 | 84 | £362 |
| Winchester | 6 | 85 | £358 |
| Reading | 7 | 87 | £350 |
| Southend-On-Sea | 8 | 92 | £330 |
| Bournemouth | 9 | 94 | £324 |
| York | 10 | 107 | £285 |
In Oxford, £30,446 would buy you 75 square feet of space, which is just over the legal minimum for a bedroom used by one adult without causing overcrowding. Bristol and Winchester were also among the cities where the UK’s average wage would buy you the least amount of space – in Bristol you could expect to purchase 84 square feet with £30,446, while in Winchester this was 85 square feet.
At the other end of the scale, Glasgow was the city where you could purchase the most property for your money. In Glasgow, the UK’s yearly salary of £30,446 would buy you 183 square feet of property – the size of the average UK lounge or living room, and four times bigger than what you could buy for the same amount in London.
| City | Rank | Square foot purchased on avg. annual wage (£30,446) | £ of one square foot of property |
| Glasgow | 1 | 184 | £166 |
| Sunderland | 2 | 181 | £168 |
| Bradford | 3 | 178 | £171 |
| Stoke-On-Trent | 4 | 166 | £183 |
| Liverpool | 5 | 161 | £189 |
| Swansea | 6 | 159 | £191 |
| Plymouth | 7 | 152 | £200 |
| Nottingham | 8 | 146 | £208 |
| Newcastle | 9 | 142 | £214 |
| Manchester | 10 | 131 | £232 |
Sunderland was second on the list of cities where you could buy the most space with the UK’s average annual wage. In Sunderland, £30,446 would purchase 181 square feet, well over the average size of a master bedroom with space to fit a double bed (144 sq. ft.).
In Bradford, the UK’s annual wage would purchase you 178 square feet of property, and in Stoke-on-Trent, you could purchase 166 square feet with this amount, both over the average size of a master bedroom.
A spokesperson for Eachnight.com, which conducted the study, said: “With the average house price in the UK now eight times higher than the average yearly wage, owning a home feels more out of reach than ever before.
“When you look at how much space the average annual wage will get you in the UK’s major cities, the data paints a clear picture of how the cost of property is excruciatingly higher in some areas than others.
“With cities such as Glasgow and Sunderland offering the largest amount of space for your money, we may well see potential buyers relocate to areas like these, for the best chances of owning a home.”
